A woman of stunning beauty and pentrating intelligence, singer Haroula Rose’s travels have found her in both Athens, Greece and Athens, Georgia.
What better place than Athens, Greece to study the classics (especially for a woman whose first name is Greek for “little joy”)? And what better place for a singer who once wanted to be a Bangle to record her latest album than the epicenter of Americana and alt-country, Athens, Georgia?
They’re just two stops stamped on the passport of the Chicago-born singer who names her biggest influences as both the “golden age classics” like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen as well as legendary country artists like Patsy Cline.
Add the literary influence of Flannery O’Connor via Jim White (the acclaimed producer with whom she’s currently working) and you get a clear picture of what Haroula Rose brings to the microphone.
The results are most wonderful. Our Free MP3 of the Day, “Another Breakup Ballad,” is really not a ballad at all. Taken from her twelve song set, These Open Roads, it’s a bouncy ride down the bumpy road of love, prompting us to picture Dolly Parton recording with the Band.
As she tells her story, Haroula’s voice is as sweet as a honeysuckle breeze but her incisive lyrics hold no quarter for the weak. Expertly mixed by producer Andy LeMaster into an organic “Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” arrangement (complete with gospel horns and Rose playing a mysterious instrument called the “marxophone”), “Another Breakup Ballad” is the first of its kind: a breakup song that’s actually left us smiling.
[If you happen to be in L.A. on Sunday night, get thee to The Bootleg Theater at 2220 Beverly Boulevard and see Haroula's 10:30PM show. A better investment of $8 you'll never find.]
